Extend Your Reach to New Horizons

The San Francisco Bay Area is home to some of the most innovative people and companies in the world. Disrupting archaic systems and challenging preconceived notions lay at the heart of Silicon Valley culture. The on-going desire to pursue the “next big thing” fuels job creation and business growth, which impacts residential and commercial real estate developments. For homeowners, investors, and real estate professionals, it is essential to plan for growth and to make advancements toward new horizons.

In this month’s edition of our real estate law newsletter, we focus on the theme of stretching to reach new horizons. You will read about how Peter Brewer recently extended the reach of his practice by being sworn in to practice law in the highest Court in the land. Simon Offord writes about how new and emerging technologies like Pokémon Go can impact real estate disclosures. Finally, Henry Chuang and Julia M. Wei provide important insights about emerging topics in lending law, such as new liens for solar panels and new implications after Yvanova.

Highlights in this month’s issue:

–Read about Peter Brewer’s recent admission to practice in front of the United States Supreme Court

–Learn about Pokémon Go, and the potential implications of geo-cached locations on home disclosures

–Hear the rebroadcast of Simon Offord’s July appearance on the Real Estate Experts segment of the Brian Copeland Radio Show

–Check out recent blog articles published by Henry Chuang and Julia M. Wei

–Catch up on recent updates from the firm, including photos, radio shows, articles, and more

We hope you enjoy reading the July edition of our newsletter!

Attorney Peter N. Brewer took a trip with his wife to Washington D.C to be sworn in to practice in the highest Court in the land — the Supreme Court of the United States. To qualify for admission, attorney Brewer had to meet a number of requirements regarding his experience and character. Applicants must have a clean disciplinary record and must be of good moral and professional character. Additionally, Peter had to receive recommendations from at least two sponsors who are members of the Supreme Court Bar, as well as obtain a letter of good standing from an official from California’s highest court.

Peter successfully met all of the requirements, and was officially sworn in and admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of the United States.

Congratulations, Peter!

Disclosures & Pokémon GO

Pokémon Go is everywhere — the hyper-popular geo-caching and augmented reality game has millions of players, or “trainers”, trying to find and catch Pokémon. The game encourages trainer to visit real locations that have virtual significance: a PokéStop allows trainers to collect items, and a PokéGym allows trainers to battle their Pokémon (short for Pocket Monsters). In the same spirit of its GameBoy game predecessor, trainers encounter random Pokémon to catch while walking around, with some Pokémon being more rare than others.

If you see a group of people congregated in a random location and “swiping” on their phones, they are most likely playing Pokémon Go. In their quest to “catch ’em all”, trainers have been spotted walking around at all hours of the day — including in residential areas. So if your house is near a virtual hotspot for Pokémon, it is highly likely that you will see an increased amount of foot traffic in your area, even at night. In his most recent blog article, Simon Offord discusses the real estate law implications of the rising popularity of Pokémon Go.

During the summer months, the Bay Area real estate industry is abuzz with activity. With so many players active in an already competitive market, people are always looking for different insights — tips about buying, selling, staging, getting loans, clearing title, etc. — to gain an advantage.

On July 19th, attorney Simon Offord again appeared as a guest on The Brian Copeland Show on KGO 810. The popular radio talk show is hosted by Brian Copeland, an award-winning actor, comedian, author, and radio personality. During the hour-long real estate feature, Simon spoke about trends in the Bay Area real estate market and answered questions from callers.

You can listen to the entire podcast, including Simon Offord’s insights, by clicking the button below.

NEW BLOG ARTICLES

DID YOU KNOW?

You can find all of our firm’s published resources in one place on our website!

Access all of our resources, including

• Past Newsletters
• Articles
• E-books
• Infographics
• Published Industry Materials
• And much more!

• Peter N. Brewer was selected for the Northern California Super Lawyers® List of Top Attorneys for the 7th straight year, and appeared in the annual Super Lawyers Magazine

• Julia M. Wei and Henry Chuang co-authored an article about Yvanova v. New Century Mortgage Corporation that was published in the most recent volume of the California Real Property Journal

• Simon Offord assisted a client in a pending transaction for the purchase of a home, in which certain material effects were not disclosed. The result was that the client was able to withdraw from the transaction, despite the fact that all of contingencies had already been removed

• Brewer Offord & Pedersen LLP took new professional photos on July 22nd. Look for our exciting new photographs in upcoming editions of our newsletter!

• Henry Chuang won a procedural motion to demonstrate standing and to extend the time to determine if the claim is non-dischargeable in bankruptcy

• Clayton Dodds wrote an article in the July Bulletin published by the Bar Association of San Francisco
  

• On July 19th, Simon Offord was the featured guest on the Brian Copeland Show on KGO810, during the Real Estate Expert segment

• Director of Marketing Clayton Dodds was appointed to the 2016-2017 Executive Committee for the Law Practice Management & Technology (LPMT) section of the California State Bar Association

• Henry Chuang and his husband celebrated their 1-year anniversary by travelling to Vancouver

REVIEW OUR FIRM ON YELP

Our firm is passionate about delivering a client experience around the highest level of quality. On our firm’s Yelp profile, you can read what many satisfied clients have said about our firm. If you would like to share a positive experience you have had with our firm, please submit a review on Yelp!